It has long been known that municipal sewer systems cannot handle cooking oil and grease and that these wastes should never be discarded down kitchen drains. To be sure, when disposed down a drain, fats, oils and grease congeal and stick to the sewer pipes in a manner that has been compared to the way bad cholesterol can clog heart arteries. Eventually, the grease, fat and oil will clog the sewer lines, causing sewage back-ups and flooding, which in turn result in damage to both personal and public property. Notwithstanding this longstanding knowledge, however, cooking grease being poured down drains persists as a major cause of residential sewer main clogs. In fact, it is historically observed that some 75 percent of sanitary sewer overflows in a typical municipality are attributable to grease and debris.
When such an obstruction blocks the flow of wastewater within a sewer pipe, the wastewater may back up and overflow through a manhole, cleanout, toilet, sink or drain. In addition to being unsightly and smelly, sewer spills are also unhealthy. Because sanitary sewer overflows contain everything that goes down any drain in the neighborhood, they can and often do carry harmful bacteria, viruses and various diseases, which is especially disconcerting for children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, all of whom face added risks. Still further, however, this problem is also environmental. For example, in water bodies the environmental impacts of sewage include hypoxia, algal blooms, habitat degradation, floating debris and aquatic species die-offs.
Given the frequency of cooking oil and grease caused sewer overflows, and the wide range and severe magnitude of the potential consequences, it is critical that everything possible should be done to prevent them. Unfortunately, the typical approach to the problem has heretofore been limited to public awareness campaigns advising residential dwellers that small amounts of cooking oils such as frying oil and bacon fat should be poured into an empty milk carton, frozen juice container or other package and disposed of in the garbage as opposed to being poured into a drain. Given the statistical evidence, however, this approach is clearly woefully inadequate.
With the shortcomings of the prior art clearly in mind, it is therefore an overriding object of the present invention to improve over the prior art by introducing an article, and method for use of the article, that is particularly adapted to not only encourage good practice, but also to serve as an unmistakable reminder to adhere to good practice. Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such an article that is economical to manufacture, thereby making the article suitable for purchase by those of any economic means as well as suitable for free distribution by municipalities or like stakeholders in connection with public awareness campaigns or the like. Finally, it is an object of the present invention to meet the foregoing and other objects by providing such an article that injects a measure of fun and humor into the grease disposal process, thereby doubly ensuring that the present invention will have a positive impact toward finally addressing the identified longstanding but heretofore unfulfilled need in the art, thereby bettering the environment while also improving the public health.